The reported hiring of Sal Sunseri as a defensive assistant means Jimbo Fisher has added the last two National Recruiters of the Year, according to 247 Sports, to his staff.
Sunseri, 53, will join FSU as either a defensive line or linebacker’s coach, according to reports. Sunseri, who spent a season as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator after three years at Alabama (another recurring theme as Fisher replaces departed assistants), was the nation’s top recruiter in 2011.

Jeremy Pruitt, 38, who has accepted the job as the Seminoles’ defensive coordinator, according to reports, garnered the same honor last February.

Not only have both coaches been recognized for their recruiting, they worked together under Nick Saban at Alabama, which has had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation the last two years according to Rivals.com.

The Crimson Tide plays Notre Dame in the BCS title game on Jan. 7 at Sun Life Stadium.

Neither hire has been made official by FSU but Fisher has returned the Seminoles to national prominence by putting together a staff of relentless, driven recruiters that have restocked FSU’s talent to a top 10 level.

The two coaches fill the voids left by former defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, who took the head coaching job at Kentucky, and defensive ends coach D.J. Eliot, who left to become Stoops’ defensive coordinator. One opening remains, replacing running back’s coach Eddie Gran, who will become Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator.

Sunseri was an assistant head coach and linebacker’s coach at Alabama from 2009-11, leaving to become Tennessee’s DC for the 2012 season. He was let go after a year when Derek Dooley and his staff was fired on Nov. 18.

Sunseri was an All-American linebacker at Pittsburgh in the 1980s and played four years for the Pittsburgh Steelers. His coaching career started at his alma mater in 1985 and took him to eight schools, including LSU in 2000 when he was on the defensive staff while Fisher was the offensive coordinator, and one pro stop, coaching one of the NFL’s best defensive lines from 2002-08 in Carolina.

Sunseri was a candidate for the Pitt’s head coaching job that went to Paul Chryst before this season.

Saban depended on Sunseri to land Alabama top targeted recruits on the East Coast.

Pruitt has been Alabama’s defensive backs coach for the last two years, his only two years on the Division I level.

Stoops took the Seminoles from the 108th ranked defense nationally the year before he arrived to No. 2 entering the Jan. 1 Orange Bowl against Northern Illinois. FSU is only behind top-ranked Alabama in total defense. Alabama is ranked sixth in passing defense, allowing 166.2 yards per game.

Most of Pruitt’s success recruiting has come in lower Alabama and Florida’s panhandle.

Pruitt played for Middle Tennessee and Alabama in the mid-1990s and then joined the Crimson Tide staff as a graduate assistant. He spent six seasons as a high school assistant in Alabama and one as the defensive backs coach at West Alabama. Pruitt returned to Alabama in 2007 as Saban’s director of player development. He was promoted by Saban to secondary coach in 2010.